Honest Tea company tests Chicagoans' honesty

The hidden cameras were perched in Grant Park near Buckingham Fountain. What they captured, at least from what we could tell during a few minutes of watching, were tentative creatures circling an odd structure constructed for a few hours. It was not as rib-tickling as watching the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam. Nor as raucous (read: salty) as the Honey Badger bit on YouTube. Nope. The creatures in this case were human and the hidden camera was set up by Honest Tea from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Calling it a "social experiment," the tea people placed unmanned pop-up stores featuring the company's bottled brews around the country on Tuesday, July 19. Bottles were available for purchase on the honor system, with a suggested $1 price. How many people took bottles from the Buckingham Fountain site and paid? And how many grabbed a bottle without paying? While we were watching, everyone coughed up cash or coins -- maybe they were Chicagoans, maybe they were tourists.

We'll have to wait until the results come in from around the country (OK, from Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.) to find out how honest Chicagoans are compared to the 11 other cities.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the puppies, or was it kittens or the badger...